Saturday, May 03, 2014

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

I’ll start with my favorite article of the week: a review of recent excavations at the base of the Temple Mount’s Western Wall. You already know about the chisel, but you may not have heard about the smooth stone, the use of mortar, or the exposure of the valley floor. The Israel Hayom article failed to check with expert Leen Ritmeyer, but you can see his reaction on his blog.

Wet sand is the trick for cutting the pulling power in half when dragging pyramid stones across the Egyptian desert.

One chapter at a time, Ferrell Jenkins is taking us through a series in Visualizing Isaiah. This week he arrived at Isaiah 40 and he shares a couple of shepherd illustrations.

Now online: Leen Ritmeyer’s recent lecture, “Does the Byzantine Church at Khirbet el-Maqatir Reflect the Sacred Architecture of the Temple in Jerusalem?”

The Wall Street Journal summarizes events in the last few weeks that have led scholars to recognize the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife as a modern forgery.

The BBC has a video inside the new replica of King Tut’s tomb. Not everyone is pleased.

1. Herod did not kill all of his sons. Only three as I recall. He had many others (from a total of 10 wives).

2. In Jerusalem, Herod was succeeded by Archelaus who ruled from 4 BC to AD 6. He may have continued work on the temple.

3. The recent report that Herod did not build the Temple Mount walls near Robinson's Arch asserts that it was built more than a decade after Archelaus was deposed. This construction would then be credited to one of the Roman governors.

I thought several sources indicated that work on the whole Temple complex continued until well after Herod's death, including the comment in John 2:20. One would assume that the retaining walls were one of the first parts completed and that the Temple was a priority.

The temple itself was completed within 18 months from 20-18 BC. As for the rest, I think we can only speculate as to what was built when, though we do know that work continued 46 years later (John 2:20) and until AD 64 when 18,000 workers were laid off.